Geek Stuff category archive
Make TWUUG Your LUG 0
Learn about the wonderful world of free and open source. Use computers to do what you want, not what someone else wants you to do. Learn how to use GNU/Linux and its plethora of free and open source software to get stuff done with computers.
It’s not hard; it’s just different.
When: Monthly TWUUG meeting at 7:30 p. m. on the first Thursday of the month (September 5, 2019). Pre-meeting dinner at Chicago Uno, JANAF shopping center, 6:00 p. m. (map)
Who: Everyone in TideWater/Hampton Roads with interest in any/all flavors of Unix/Linux. There are no dues or signup requirements. All are welcome.
Where: Lake Taylor Transitional Care Hospital in Norfolk Training Room (map). (Wireless and wired internet connection available.) Turn right upon entering, then left at the last corridor and look for the open meeting room.
The Watchers 0
The IoT is spreading its voyeuristic web. Now it’s doorbell cameras being made available to law enforcement.
From the story (emphasis added):
Ring users can decline video access requests by police officers.
I am certain that there’s no way this guarantee can be circumvented. After all, we never hear news stories about outfits getting hacked, do we?
It’s All about the Algorithm, “Googling Is Believing” Dept. 0
David and his guest discuss how the internet feeds confirmation bias.
Geeking Out 0
Listening to Richard Diamond, Private Detective, starring Dick Powell, from the Old Time Radio Network Library on Real Player in a VirtualBox virtual machine of Windows 8 on Ubuntu MATE using the Fluxbox window manager on my Zareason media box.
When They’ve Got Your Number . . . 0
. . . it turns out that they really have got your number.
It’s All about the Algorithm 0
Nancy LeTourneau reports on Youtube’s “recommendation engine” and what the engine spawned engineered in Brazil.
Geeking Out 0
The Fluxbox window manager with the looksClearblue theme on Ubuntu MATE on my Zareason mediabox. The background is from my library.
Customer Care 0
I got a call from the “business development” arm of my hosting provider yesterday to inquire as to what needs I might have. They call about once a quarter.
After introductory pleasantries, I informed the caller that my site is not a business site, but a hobbyist site (unsaid was, “So whatever you’re selling, I ain’t buying”). He asked, “By the way, what’s the hobby?”
I said, “Running a website.”
That’s when he started laughing . . . .
(By the by, I am quite happy with my hosting provider, particularly with the tech support, which has proven extremely competent. It’s the calibre of the tech support that keeps me with them. I don’t need tech support often, because I generally know what I’m doing, but, when I do need it, I need it bad.)
Geeking Out 0
Ubuntu MATE with the Plasma Desktop. The wallpaper is from my library. Swisswatch and the GKrellM system monitor are on the right:
Make TWUUG Your LUG 0
Learn about the wonderful world of free and open source. Use computers to do what you want, not what someone else wants you to do. Learn how to use GNU/Linux and its plethora of free and open source software to get stuff done with computers.
It’s not hard; it’s just different.
When: Monthly TWUUG meeting at 7:30 p. m. on the first Thursday of the month (August 1, 2019). Pre-meeting dinner at Chicago Uno, JANAF shopping center, 6:00 p. m. (map)
Who: Everyone in TideWater/Hampton Roads with interest in any/all flavors of Unix/Linux. There are no dues or signup requirements. All are welcome.
Where: Lake Taylor Transitional Care Hospital in Norfolk Training Room (map). (Wireless and wired internet connection available.) Turn right upon entering, then left at the last corridor and look for the open meeting room.
Geeking Out 0
Windows 8 in a VirtualBox virtual machine on Ubuntu MATE with the Plasma Desktop.
Afterthought:
Yes, I know the Windows taskbar is at the bottom of the screen by default. Did you know that you can reposition it? I find putting the taskbar (or, in Linux-speak, the panel) at the top fits my workflow.
Geeking Out 0
The Plasma Desktop with the Glowglass theme on Ubuntu MATE. The wallpaper is from my library.
Geeking Out 0
The UPS that I had my modem and router plugged into died tonight.
The first symptom was that I could not load a webpage. I tried pinging google.com and 8.8.8.8. Nada, zilch, nothing.
Following the dictum, always check the hardware first, I saw that the router and modem were powered off. I unplugged them from the UPS and plugged them into the wall outlet, and lights started flashing and everything is working again.
I can’t complain. I’ve certainly gotten my money’s worth from that device, as it’s eight or nine years old, and stuff wears out.
As my old car mechanic in New Jersey would have said, that thing didn’t owe me a dime.
I’ll pick up a new one next week.
Geeking Out 0
The Fluxbox window manager on Ubuntu MATE.
I could easily see this wallpaper as being from The Lord of the Rings, even though there’s no specific scene into which I could fit it.
Internet of Things Easy Marks
0
Why the hell does a light bulb need to connect to the internet in the first place?
Words fail me.
Via Le Show.
Meta: Phillies RSS Feed 0
I updated the widget for the Philadelphia Phillies RSS feed, over there —-> on the sidebar. The xml for the feed had changed in February and I finally got around to noticing.
The Phils certainly had a rough month in June.